Monday, February 16, 2009

A GOOD VEGAN PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE THAT IS ALSO LOWER IN FAT!

Low-fat peanut butter cookies? Well, not exactly, but lower in fat (especially the saturated kind) than most! Mine are also made with whole grain flour, which provides more nutrients and fiber.

I used a combination of applesauce and syrup instead of the extra fat used in the standard recipe, relying only on the fat in the peanut butter itself. All applesauce makes too soft a cookie, and all syrup makes a cookie that's too crispy.

Unfortunately, I didn't have any chocolate left over from Valentine's Day to make the peanut Blossom Cookie version to photograph, but they are my favorite! I'll make them and photograph them again some time soon!

BRYANNA'S CHEWY VEGAN LOWER-FAT PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES (WITH CHOCOLATE PEANUT BLOSSOM COOKIE VARIATION) Yield: 30 cookies
A lower-fat, vegan version peanut butter cookies, AND a variation with the "Hershey Kisses" in the middle that I used to love so much-- except that instead of the "kisses" I use organic vegan dark chocolate chunks or chips.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Whisk the Dry Mix ingredients together well in a medium bowl. (If using the peanuts, stir them in.)

In a food processor, beat the Wet Mix ingredients together til smooth. Add to the Wet Mix to the Dry Mix ingredients in the bowl and mix well. Refrigerate the dough in the covered bowl for several hours (or place in the freezer until the dough is firm, if you are in a hurry!)

Divide the dough into 30 even pieces and quickly roll each into a ball (or as close to a ball shape as you can!), then roll in the coarse unbleached sugar. Place on nonstick or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Use the tines of a fork to press down the dough a little in one direction, and then the other, to make a grid design.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes, or until they are starting to brown on the bottom. Remove pans from the oven and let cool for about 3 minutes, then carefully place the cookies on racks with a spatula to cool thoroughly.

Cool on racks.

VARIATION: BRYANNA'S CHEWY VEGAN LOWER-FAT PEANUT BLOSSOM COOKIES:

You will need:
30/ 1/2-inch chunks of organic vegan chocolate (OR you could use 3 or 4 organic, dairy-free chocolate chips on each cookie instead)

Follow the directions for making the dough and chilling it. Do not press down the cookie balls with a fork as directed above. Instead, leave them in the ball shape. Immediately after removing from the oven, top each cookie with a chunk of chocolate while still hot. Place in the turned-off oven for a few minutes to soften the chocolate. Then cool as directed above.

(The standard recipe for peanut butter cookies, of the same size, using 1 3/4 cups flour, results in each cookie containing over 6 grams total fat [a lot of it saturated], and about 133.5 calories [46% calories from fat], and about .6 g dietary fiber.)

(The standard recipe for Peanut Blossom Cookies, of the same size, using 1 3/4 cups flour, results in each cookie containing about 8 g total fat [a lot of it saturated] and 173 calories [45% calories from fat], and about .88 g dietary fiber.)

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